Little Garden
by Day of Diana
Summary: Ino plants a seed, Sakura waters it, and together, they watch it grow. A two-shot soft Yuri with lemony goodness. InoxSakura.


_Why hello there! Come to enjoy some InoSaku action? Read on! I've always wanted to write a yuri fanfic, and this is my first one, so be gentle, guys. Though I might get into it more now that I think how nice this little story turned out. And it's going to be a two-shot, so stick around for part two, coming to in the near future!_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"I've really got to water you guys more often. You're looking a little, um... hm. Dead, I'd guess..."

Sakura sighed and set down her watering can. There really was no point to it now. She could see that the stalks of the flower were withered and brown, and the soil was much too hard for the poor little plant. Also, for some reason it had been pushed too far to the right of the window sill, leaving it in the dark for most of the day. Argh. Stupid Sai. He knew as much about white oleander as he knew about relationships. She should've never trusted him to house-sit for her.

She had just returned back to her apartment from an easy B-ranked mission in the outmost region of the Fire Country, the details of which she was already forgetting. It had been easy money, two days for 100 ryo. A real cakewalk. She had gone with Shikamaru and Neji to do something or other for whatshisname, that new feudal lord. Aside from a few scuffles, the three of them had essentially completed their jobs with nothing worse for wear.

"Oooh, that Sai. Isn't he learning anything about friendship? Thought he was..."

Sakura had an odd habit of talking to herself when she was alone in her apartment. This was mostly due to her domestic situation, as she lived alone and most of her friends still lived with their parents. Not including Naruto, of course. And Sai. Rargh. Sai.

Actually, she wasn't sure if that freak still lived with his parents. Or if she should (could) call Sai her friend.

Shrugging her shoulders absentmindedly, Sakura bid R.I.P to her deceased white oleander plants, picked up the pot, and tossed it into a little metal bin she used for trash. Now to set about making dinner.

She trekked warily over to her tiny kitchen, careful not to stub her toe on that loose floorboard, nor jar her elbow on the sharp counter edge. She did, however, manage to scrape her shin against the door to whatever lay underneath the sink. Congratulating herself aloud on the tiny tear in her epidermis, she pulled open the fridge door with more force than strictly necessary. And promptly banged that door against her semi-injured knee.

"Sakura, my girl, we really must move into a bigger apartment." Shaking her head, Sakura replied to herself. "I know that, but we don't have the money."

"Then we can move back into mum's and dad's house. At least that place has a bigger bathroom than your bedroom and living room combined."

"Look, I don't want to talk about this right now."

"You can't avoid me forever! I know where you live!"

"I know you know where I live. You're me."

"What? What is that nonsense? You're going bonkers."

"Ah, it would appear that I am, except I know I do not have schizophrenia."

"Doesn't it run in the family on mum's side?"

"Um... maybe."

"Okay, you. Shut up. Grab that tin of salmon and we'll talk after dinner."

"Don't you want to share? The salmon, I mean."

"Are you crazy, woman? I don't like salmon."

Sakura nodded thoughtfully to her reflection on the refrigerator door before reaching her hand inside to feel around for the salmon tin. When she couldn't find it using touch only, she reluctantly opened the door a bit wider and squeezed between the counter and door around to the other side of the door, where she could see what was actually inside her fridge.

There was nothing. Not even her jar of pickled umeboshi.

"Bastard Sai," Sakura grumbled under her breath. Of course, she had no real idea who had raided her refrigerator. She was just happy to blame someone.

**0000000000000**

"Oh well. Meant to go food shopping tonight anyways." Sakura locked her apartment door and slipped the key into her shorts pocket. "And if I see that Sai on the way, there's no reason we can't have a friendly little chat about respecting another person's home while damn house-sitting for her."

Sakura walked a very short distance before she spied a familiar silhouette out of the corner of her eye, coming towards her. The sunset's dusky pink rays threw the shadow of the person behind her way ahead of her, so that it stood (or rather, lay) taller than her own shadow on the road. She could recognize that posture and hair anywhere, even in distorted, inky shapes. The question was: why was he approaching her?

The figure soon fell into step with her, pace matching her own, keeping in time with her strides. It must have been a tiny bit hard on him, because his legs were longer than hers.

"Any particular reason why you're escorting me to the grocery store?"

"Escorting you? I have to go to the grocery store too."

"Huh? And why at this time of day?"

"Why are you so interested, Sakura?"

Sakura flushed. "Forget it, then."

The pair walked on in silence for five more minutes, and then he increased his speed. As he did so, though, something fell down by his feet, and he continued walking. Sakura was about to call out to him when he looked back over his shoulder and said, "See you later."

Catching onto his meaning, Sakura nodded to show she got the message. Shikamaru rounded a corner that most definitely did not lead to any grocery store, winked, and disappeared. Startled for a second by his uncharacteristic wink, which she thought rather odd indeed, Sakura bent down quickly to retrieve the crumpled piece of paper Shikamaru had surreptitiously dropped. She pretended to adjust her sandal straps while she slipped the note into her shoes. This may, of course, be routine work; sometimes Tsunade felt it was necessary to send information secretly for safety measures... but if she was judging that wink right, then it may just be a summons to a party.

She walked on to the grocery store without giving the tiny ball of paper a second thought.

**0000000000000**

Back home with her numerous groceries, including a bar of chocolate she was just dying to eat, Sakura remembered the paper in the grooves of her sandal, and, debating for a moment on whether she should read it or flick it, decided she was in a good enough mood to at least skim the note before indulging in her chocolate.

The paper read as this:

Red rose red rose

Blue violet blue violet

White sugar white sugar

Pink pink pink pink

And if something's died, you know where to find me! ~

Sakura blinked. She read the note again. Then she flipped it over, hoping to find some clue to decipher the meaningless lines on the front. There was nothing except a small red smear which resembled a horrible rendition of a pig. Was that even a pig...? It could be a bumblebee too...

"The hell is this? This better not be some sort of stupid new code Tsunade's trying out."

"Code? Hm... it could be a flower code..."

"Don't be stupid. Sugar is not a flower. Neither is 'pink'."

"But 'white' and 'pink' can be flower colors. Then I could read this as a color code."

"Rose isn't a color, dumbass."

"Yes it is!"

"..."

"Wait a minute... colors and flowers...hm. And that last line... it's odd. It doesn't fit in with the rest of the poem."

"Poem, ah...! I get it now!"

"What, what?"

"Don't you see? 'Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you!' It's a weird remake of that poem that Ino gave you for Saint Valentine's Day last year!"

"...You remember something our arch enemy gave us last year?"

"Don't be daft, woman. It fits! Huh, she must know that the oleander died... bastard Sai must have bragged about it."

"...Would Sai brag about that? He's a very quiet, unassuming whelp."

"Yes, but how else would she know? She's telling us that she'd be happy to replace the plant for us if we'd come to that flower shop her family owns."

"Uh-huh, sure. Let's go over in the morning."

"Why? We can go over right now, that much is obvious. She did send Shikamaru on a special delivery mission just for us, so maybe she has something else she wants to give us besides the flowers. Something private."

"Private? Uh..."

"You're being stupid again. Ino probably doesn't want Shikamaru to pry into our business with her, so she didn't write it in."

"Oh, hm. I see..."

"Hey, whatever floats your boat, Sakura. Let's go. We've wasted enough time buying groceries and figuring this whole mess out. Come on, move it. Out the door, lady."

"Sheesh, you're so pushy."

"If I wasn't, you'd be flat, fat, and married to some loser right now."

"...A valid point..."

Grudgingly, she left the apartment, locking the door behind herself.

**0000000000000**

"Ino...?"

Sakura pushed the door of the flower shop open. The sign said 'open', so she was allowed in here, right? Then why did she have this feeling that what she was doing was illegal?

Taking a few tentative steps into the shop, she paused to glance around for any sign of life.

"Ino?" She repeated doubtfully, hoping the idiot blonde would answer her. There were no lights on in the shop, so it was kind of spooky, even for a tough chuunin like her. Then again, Ino probably did that on purpose. That moron had always liked to play with her food before she ate it.

Sakura tried to find a light switch and berated herself for not thinking to bring a flashlight. Her eyesight was fairly good, above average even, but she couldn't see in total darkness. Which, thanks to the fast-setting sun, was slowly consuming the little shop.

"This isn't funny, Pig Face. I know you're in here somewhere." Sakura almost upset a large pot of bright orange roses. She felt a bead of sweat run down her forehead but ignored it.

Then came a startling voice. "If you know I'm in here somewhere, you're doing a very bad job of looking. Try to find me, Billboard Brow."

Whipping around in slight panic, Sakura fought to keep her calm. The voice had a very unpleasant echoing effect, and it had seemed to come from everywhere around her at once, out of the pots, the shelves, and the plants themselves. It was extremely disorienting.

A few seconds later, the voice spoke again. "You have five minutes left, Forehead, before I leave."

Sakura clutched her head, reeling from the unexpected pain that blossomed inside it. She lost her balance and smashed into a few shelves of yellow violets. Then, as suddenly as the headache came on, it left. And she had a moment of great clarity before the omnipresent Ino laughed.

She felt the great pounding against her skull again and it hurt so much that she could hardly stand it, but now she knew what was going on. Ino had mastered mind controlling, mind reading… and now she knew how to talk to her targets from the inside of their brains in such a way as to inflict tremendous amounts of agony upon them. Or maybe Ino's voice just had that annoying quality and she hadn't planned it at all.

Though her head throbbed with pain and she could barely stand, Sakura knew what she had to do. As Ino continued laughing at her friend's expense, Sakura focused all of her energy to locate the other chakra signature in the room. Why hadn't she done this in the first place?

Ah, there she was. Hiding behind the delicate white flowers of the oleander Sakura had come for. Well, Sakura felt stupid. It was so obvious! In fact, she should have made a beeline for those flowers when she first came into the stupid store!

Now wildly guessing that Ino was using a complicated genjutsu of some sort, she placed her fingers in an appropriate formation and gasped, "Release!"

That did it. Though Sakura could hear Ino giggling quietly behind the shelves of the oleanders, the pain ceased immediately. With a clear head, she stalked with purpose to her 'friend'.

Ino never knew what hit her. But an accurate description would be: Sakura's fist charged with the force of a raging bull elephant and then an aftermath of several small tornados tearing and ripping at various parts of Ino's body.

When Sakura had finally calmed down, Ino needed serious medical attention. Well, okay, she didn't really, but she did have several injuries that needed to be treated right away, lest she pass out or die of internal hemorrhaging. And unfortunately, Sakura was the only medic around the area who was available at such short notice. Pity.

Grimacing, Sakura picked the nearly unconscious Ino up and propped her carefully against a bottom shelf that once held white oleander. Sakura set to work, binding all of the wounds as well as she could given that she only had strips of bloodied cloth to tie around the scratches and oozing holes. Within ten minutes, she was satisfied that her laborious toil would hold in place until Ino walked herself to the hospital. Which she probably couldn't do, given her current state.

"Ah, Ino, you stupid pig, you. Why must you test me?" Sakura sat herself beside the blonde and looked around at all of the destruction she had caused in this corner of the shop. Petals of every color lay strewn across the floor. Green, broken stems of lover's loathing and baby's breath mixed with golden pollen to create a jubilee of sweet, slightly bitter smells. Glinting pieces of transparent glass glittered when Sakura's eyes caught them. She reached to grab a particularly large broken piece of a vase and was not surprised when it cut her. Sticking the bleeding finger into her mouth, Sakura gazed around the shop again and felt the tiniest pricks of guilt.

"Hmph. I suppose I'll have to help you clean this place tomorrow, even if it was all your fault." Sakura now turned to look at Ino's face. To her faint amazement, Ino's eyes were open and already staring into hers. Sakura quickly looked away. She heard Ino breathe a tiny, forlorn sigh.

"Was not my fault. You attacked me without me provoking you." Now Ino was sitting up a bit more, resting her back against the hard planks of wood that made up the shelf.

"That's a lie and you know it," Sakura said sharply, her face on level with the blonde's, glaring into the shimmering blue pools that were Ino's eyes.

For a moment, it seemed as if Ino would try to argue her point. Then she scrunched up her nose in a cute way, the way she always did when she wanted her father or her sensei to do something nice for her. With a wide, close-lipped smile and squinting eyes, Ino poked Sakura in her stomach and turned away from her.

Sakura was not amused by Ino's attempt at an apology.

"Look, Pinky, the sun's gone down." Ino slapped her arm around Sakura's shoulders and squeezed, leaning in so her cheek brushed against Sakura's cheek. In this odd embrace, Sakura couldn't help but smile, even if that smile only was a twitch of her mouth.

"Want to go to that barbeque place? I think Shikamaru and Chouji are eating there tonight… it's, like, Chouji's mom's birthday or something."

Another attempt at an apology, though this one was far more acceptable, in Sakura's humble opinion.

"Sure, that might be fun. But first I should ask Tsunade if it's alright. My hospital shift starts in twenty minutes."

Ino's light fingers brushed a strand of pastel-pink hair away from Sakura's face. "I don't think she would mind if you came in a few minutes late."

Sakura raised her eyebrows at Ino. The blonde had worked for about a month as Sakura's assistant in training at the hospital until she was fired by Tsunade. She then had to go back to accepting regular shinobi-grade missions. When asked about her brief dabbling in the wonders of medicine and bloody surgeries, she would loudly tell everyone in the vicinity that she had decided to quit because she was too distracting as a nurse. But Sakura strongly suspected it had to do with Ino rarely coming in on time, fainting at the sight of blood and other bodily fluids, and flirting with everyone who happened to catch her eye; even patients in absolutely no condition to return her compliments. So, as an eyewitness and subject of Tsunade's legendary temper, Ino knew just how terrible the godaime's anger could be.

When Ino saw the dirt-eye Sakura was giving her, she smirked. "Oh, Sakura, come on. I saw her earlier, she's in a good mood today."

Sakura paused and tilted her head to the side, scrutinizing Ino. "That woman changes her moods as fast as she changes bottles of sake, Ino."

"Hmph. Whatever. You going or not? I never extend my invitations twice."

"You just did."

Ino let out a laugh at that one, as if Sakura was trying to be funny. Which, in a tiny way, she supposed she was. Sakura didn't really have a good sense of humor, as depicted in her daily punches of Naruto whenever he cracked a bad joke…or even a slightly humorous one. In a way, though, she was glad Ino was trying to lighten the situation. It took her mind off of the gruesome beating she had just given her friend and the feeling of the teeth of guilt gnawing at her. As much as she wanted Ino to apologize for trying one of her new battle techniques out on her, Sakura knew she had to say sorry too.

Ino sighed contentedly and started stroking the silky curtain of Sakura's hair, gazing around at all of the mess that covered their corner of the shop. Sakura leaned back against the shelves, relaxed by the rhythmic petting. Her mother used to soothe her this way… probably still would if Sakura allowed it. Ino let out another, softer sigh, and then her other hand landed feather-light on Sakura's arm and started rubbing it in the same motions as she was doing with Sakura's hair. The other girl had never really been massaged on her arm before, and it felt nice, even if Ino's hands were a little rough.

Then there was a small 'clink' of a piece of glass falling off of a shelf, and Sakura tensed, straight-backed and ready to attack. Ino, too, looked as if she were waiting to spear kunai through the closest enemy, but kept her hands on her friend.

Sensing and seeing no intruders, Sakura felt that the moment of peaceful quiet had been ruined anyway. And they should go out to eat now if she was going to make her shift at the hospital. Despite what Ino had said earlier, Tsunade held her protégé at a different level of standards than everybody else. At least, that's what Sakura thought. Tsunade had never said anything about it to her.

"Ino, let's go. I'm going to be late, and you know how Tsunade is..." Sakura trailed off with a small, sad exhale of breath at the end of her sentence. Her shoulders slumped and she hugged her legs loosely. "You know, I wish she was more like Kakashi-sensei. He's so mellow, laid-back. He wouldn't care if I showed up on time. Maybe…even at all."

Sakura started as she felt Ino's arms encircle her slim form. Then she went stock-still as the faintest touch of Ino's lips brushed the outer shell of her ear.

"Forget him. Naruto's busy training with that old scarecrow now, right? Stupid boys with their fucking training sessions, never letting girls join. But we belong to a select group of smarties, hm? We belong to a better group where we never let each other down. Hm, Sakura? We're better than they are."

Ino's breath whispered down the side of her throat, raising all of the little hairs on the back of Sakura's neck. Suddenly there was a shiver running down her back.

"Ino...?" Sakura stammered, and she found that all of her muscles were seemingly frozen in place.

"Yes, Sakura?" Ino murmured in reply, and... Sakura felt a hot, wet thing caress the start of her jawline. A strange sensation flared to life in her tummy. It was an alien feeling, but not unpleasant. But Sakura knew that something bad was happening here, something that Ino should not be allowed to do to her. With all of her strength, Sakura wrenched free of Ino's clutches and rolled to the side.

That was a dangerous idea. There were still bits of glass on the floor, but luckily Sakura managed to avoid the brunt of them. Warning bells going off in her head, she made to sprint for the exit. She didn't get very far.

Ino grabbed her wrist and managed to yank her back down into a sitting position against the once full shelves of oleanders. But now instead of seating herself beside the pinkette, Ino chose to take a more offensive approach to her quarry.

First placing her hands firmly on the shelves directly behind Sakura's head, then mashing her knees against Sakura's thighs, Ino effectively trapped her prey in place. Practically sitting on Sakura's lap, Ino bent down close to her; clear, triumphant aquamarine eyes staring forever into the clouded, fearful emerald ones.

Leaning back as far as she could from Ino's hungry-looking grin, Sakura felt at the same time a surge of excitement. Though it pained her back to press up hard against the sharp edges of the shelves, she could feel her heart pounding, hear her blood rushing inside her ears and veins. Was this the thrill of the chase, the heat of the hunt...the moment of the kill?

Panic.

She was trapped by Ino's smooth, porcelain arms.

She knew she had the brawn to throw off this girl, this predator who had an odd zealous glint in her eyes.

Yet she was spellbound by the moment, powerless but to gaze endlessly into those brilliant, diamond-studded eyes.

There was no warning before Ino's head shot forward to capture Sakura's lips in hers.

A gentle pressure landed on her mouth before Sakura even knew what was happening. That gentle pressure in half a second became something demanding, nudging at the seam of her lips and even pricking it with what felt like a sharp pin. And Sakura obliged it, not knowing or caring what was going on. Then a tart, sweet taste much like honeysuckles leaked in, mixing with Sakura's saliva and making her mouth water. The honeysuckle zest kept flowing in until it filled her mouth completely, and by this time Sakura was aware of nothing in the world except this pleasure of being fed exquisite nectar. She was startled when, maybe seconds or minutes later, a hot, wet, alive thing poked inside her mouth, without even asking if it could join. And this was the point Sakura couldn't bear any more. Her eyes flew open, (when she had closed them she did not know) and she attempted to pull her head backwards so that she could escape the black hole of Ino's mouth. Unfortunately, she was straining as far backwards as the stupid shelves allowed, and Ino's kiss threatened to swallow her being whole. So, Sakura did the first thing that came into her mind.

She kicked Ino in the groin.

This got the blonde's attention and she broke her hold abruptly on Sakura, slumping to the side and holding her tummy as if it was a dying loved one. Oops. Since Ino was taller than Naruto, Sakura had just guessed where her groin area was. Not that she went kicking Naruto... there, all that often! Just when he was being super annoying.

Now that Ino was distracted, Sakura could make her getaway. Her legs carried her out of the shop on their own accord as Sakura ran blindly into the pitch blackness of Konoha's streets. She looked back only once.

**0000000000000**

Sitting slowly and a bit painfully who knows how long later, Ino took one look at herself, around the shop, the clock, and cursed quietly.

"Somehow," Ino spoke softly to a white oleander flower. "I will get that girl. I still have hope for it."

Sighing, she began plucking the white, dainty petals off of the flower. "Did you see the way she looked at me when I went in for the kiss?" Ino smirked and ripped another petal off of the flower's stem.

"Total rapture. Completely. She might not believe it now, but," Ino smiled dreamily as she picked off the last, small petal. "She's gonna be my girl."

Giggling, Ino threw down the oleander, crushed it underfoot, and walked out of the shop to pursue her best friend and one true love.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Like it?_

_Really really like it and think it's the best InoSaku ever? Review and let me know what you think! _

_A few notes: _

_Umeboshi is a kind of pickled plum used fairly often in onigiri, or rice balls, in Japan. I figured Sakura might have some as a low-cost snack._

_Ino refers to Kakashi as a 'scarecrow' because that's what the word kakashi means in Japanese. There. Just helping you guys out. :) _

_Part Two coming soon!_


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